The third day of spectrum auction for 3G telephony saw the all-India licence bid touching Rs 4,324 crore at the end of 16 rounds, ensuring that the government would get a minimum of Rs 17,636 crore.

With today's closing, the bid has gone up nearly 24 per cent more than the base price of Rs 3,500 crore and 5.85 per cent higher than Rs 4,085 crore in the last round on Saturday.

The government has set a target of garnering up to Rs 35,000 crore from sale of spectrum for 3G and broadband wireless access (BWA) services.

The Rs 416.43-crore bid for Delhi was the highest among all metros. The bid for Gujarat at Rs 416.42 crore almost matched the one for Delhi, according to details available with the Department of Telecom (DoT).

The bid for Gujarat also saw the highest increase of Rs 20.82 crore from the last round of auction on Saturday.

Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra saw bids rising to Rs 404.54 crore, while that for Karnataka was Rs 396.58 crore ahead of Mumbai at Rs 392.66 crore.

The bid for Rajasthan was Rs 159.47 crore, UP (E) Rs 157.66 crore, Kolkata, Kerala Rs 150.16 crore each, Madhya Pradesh Rs 149.02 crore, Haryana Rs 140.09 crore and Punjab Rs 123.63 crore.

There were negative demands in nine circles -- West Bengal, HP, Bihar, Orissa, Assam, North East, J&K and Haryana.

Excess demands were seen for eight circles with the maximum being for UP (E). These circles did not see any increase in their bid price since Friday.

The government is auctioning three slots of 3G airwaves in 17 telecom service areas. Only two slots are up for sale across the country for broadband airwaves, which will begin after the conclusion of the 3G auctions.

On Friday, the first day of the 3G spectrum sale process, the government had received bids worth a total of Rs 3,919 crore for a pan India licence- this was 12% higher than the base price of Rs 3,500 crore.